248 CONTOPUS RICHARDSONII, WESTERN WOOD PEWEE. 



any decided peculiarities, in examining the very large series snbniitted to me by 

 several kind friends. But even in dried skins certain slight dillerences may be 

 observed to hold with cr)nsiderable constancy. 'I'he colors are ilurker (they shonld be 

 ligliter, ])alei-, iu a geographical variety Ironi the dry, western region); the olive- 

 brown of the npper ])arts is more fuscous, the olive-gray shading of the sides is 

 heavier, and reaches almost or entirely uiiiuterrupted quite across the breast, leaving 

 only the upjier ])art of the throat, and the belly, whitish. The wings average longer, 

 owing to elongation of th(i primaries, by which the tip is carried further from the ends 

 of tli(^ secondary (juills. It is also a siginlicant fact, that Audubon — oneof tiie acutest 

 of i)bservers, and certainly not one who can be accused of wanton species-making — 

 has left no hint that he even suspected its identity with virens. If he be not mistaken 

 iu his investigations in Labrador respecting this species, the mode of niditication is 

 totiilly different from that of the eastern Wood Pewee. The note is hai'sher and more 

 abrupt — has little of the plaintive, drawling intonation so characteristic of C. rirens. 

 When I re;iched the Rio Grande, fresh from eastern woods, where I saw the Wood 

 Pewe(; almost every day iu summer, and had been familiar with it for years, the 

 weste.n Pewee's note was one of the first that sainted my ears Irom the heavy timber 

 bordeiing the river ; and I well remember how peculiar it sonnded, making me sure 

 my old friend was not before me; and likewise through Arizona, it never occurred to 

 me that the birds might be the same as C. virens. So we return to the question, and 

 it is an open one, whether such field observations as those of Audubon's, Allen'.s, Trippe's, 

 and mine, should not be allowed to turn the scale in favor of specific distinctness, 

 although in this case they are not very satisfactorily borne out by inspection of speci- 

 mens in the closet. We may have to acknowledge, iu some cases, that species are bet- 

 ter determined in the iield than in the closet. If this be true iu auy case, it holds with 

 the little Flycatchers. 



The Western Wood Pewee is exceediugly abnudaut in Aiizouii, from 

 the beginning' of May nntil the latter part of September. I found it in 

 all t^orts of woodland, bat more particularly in high, oj)en forests. On 

 entering a piece of woods the ear was sure to be saluted by the curious 

 notes of the bird, and one, or more likely several, would be seen, sen- 

 tineMike, on the ends of dead branches, in wait for passing insects. At 

 least two broods are reared in this latitude. The bird ai)])ears to breed 

 indifferently throughout its range; in the northward migration, iudi 

 viduals drop off all along, only a small fraction reaching the extreme 

 limit of the species ; but in the fall they sweep southward with one 

 accord, being delicate birds, unable to endure the cold of even our 

 soutbern districts. It would appear that a portion of them are resident 

 iu Mexico and Central America ; and to these, no doubt |)resenting 

 some slight peculiarities not shared by the migratory and northern-bred 

 birds, the names boffofensis, sordidulus, and pJeheius have been applied. 

 In most of its extent it appears to be separated a little from C. virens ; 

 but the two forms meet in their tropical winter quarters, and also, if 

 Audubon made no mistake, a-iain at their northern terminus, on the 

 cold and foggy shores of Labrador. 



Information received from Mr. Allen since the above was written iu- 

 crea.ses the suspicion that Audubon may not have been entirely correct 

 in his descrij^tion of the nidification, even if the Labrador record be not 

 itself invalidated. My esteemed correspondent, remarking that the 

 bird is more or less common at the western edge ot the ])lains wherever 

 there are trees, and also throughout the moiuitains of Colorado, up to 

 about 12,000 feet, continues : "Though generally distinguishable from 

 the Eastern Wood Pewee on comparison of dried skins, it is more easily 

 recognized by the difference in its notes and breeding habits. The nest 

 is built iu the forks of a small branch, instead of being " saddled " on 

 a horizontal limb, like that of the eastern bird. It is neat and compact, 

 resembling, both in position and general ibrm, that of the Least Fly- 

 catcher [EmpUlonax minimu,s) of the Atlantic States, and hence differs 

 widely from that described by Audubon as observed by him in Labra- 

 dor. Its notes are harsh and less varied than those oi its eastern rela- 

 tives, lacking almost entirely the plaintive character so distinctive of 



